I don't really have a lot to write about just yet on my new
project. The focus of the project will be to build a robot
for visual effect, mostly to inspire children to get
involved in robotics. Despite not working my regular job
right now due to an injury from a car accident a couple
weeks ago, I have two tottlers who keep me pretty busy so I
haven't been able to put as much work into this project as
I had hoped. Right now I am focusing most of my efforts on
learning to program the AVR microcontroller, since physical
labor is still somewhat painful right now. Previously,
before the accident, I was working on removing the non-
functional ornimentation from a 1/6 scale R/C M5 Sherman
tank. I was putting a lot of effort into changing the
turret to look less like a tank and more like a "classic"
Hollywood type robot. I found the torso of a 'Buster' robot
which I was adapting to fit the turret. The head of the
Buster was removed before I got it, so I decided to use the
head of a 'Tor' robot, which gave the entire robot just the
right look I was trying to make. Eventually I'll modify the
head with LEDS controlled by another AVR to create special
effects and give it a certain "wow" factor.